Read Rolling in the Deep: Hawaiian Heroes, Book 2 for Free Online Page B

rimmed the western horizon, their edges burnished with gold. The color reflected on the sea, its blue now silver tinged with gold. Soft Hawaiian music played over the sound of waves rushing onto the lava rocks below.
    David and Melia took the seats backing to the rail, his parents on one side of them. Grace and Bella took the chairs next to them, which left Claire beside Daniel. As he held her chair for her, she murmured her thanks. She restrained herself from giggling like a teenager, but a flush of sheer excitement heated her face and throat.
    She was here to see her friend, not flirt. She turned to Melia. “This is so gorgeous. I can’t believe you’re going to live here.”
    “I know. I wake up in the morning and think I’m dreaming,” her friend agreed.
    “This hotel is charming,” Grace said to Tina and Homu. “Thank you so much for putting us up here.”
    Tina nodded graciously. “It is not the most exclusive resort on the island, but the new owners have done a great deal of remodeling. Also, we thought you’d like to be near Kona Town.”
    “It’s perfect.”
    A smiling waiter took their order for cocktails. Throwing caution to the wind now that food was on the way, Claire ordered a mai tai, as did Bella and Grace.
    A woman came walking through the restaurant, laden with fresh-flower leis. Homu Ho’omalu beckoned to her. “A lei for each of our guests.”
    Claire chose a lovely garland of creamy plumeria with deep pink centers. Instead of reaching across to hand it to her, the woman handed it to Daniel. The string of delicate blossoms looked incongruous hanging from his calloused hand. Claire looked up into his eyes. She held her breath, anticipation nearly suffocating her. Would he place it over her head?
    His eyes narrowed dangerously. He hesitated and then lifted the lei and lowered it over her head. Although he was careful not to touch her, the heat emanating from his hands and knotted forearms contrasted sharply with the cool softness of the blossoms on her neck. Their scent rose up around her, mingling with the sea, or was that him? The heady combination seemed to embody the tropics.
    “Mahalo,” she murmured. Remembering her manners, she turned to thank his parents also. “Now I really feel I’m in Hawaii.”
    Their hostess nodded graciously. “It is our traditional greeting. E komo mai o Hawaii. Welcome to Hawaii.”
    Mrs. Ho’omalu turned to Bella, who was arranging her purple hyacinth lei. “But you are Hawaiian, yes?”
    Bella exchanged a swift look with her mother. “Yes, partly.”
    Grace blushed, fussing with her white lei. Claire blinked. She’d always known Bella’s father was a tropical romance, just hadn’t realized it had happened here.
    “And what about you, my dear?” Tina Ho’omalu asked Claire.
    Claire picked up the tall drink the waiter had just placed before her, artfully decorated with a spear of fruit and flowers. She took a gulp, scarcely registering the chilled-fruit taste filling her mouth. Criminy, what was it about these Ho’omalus? The woman’s ebony gaze almost seemed capable of plumbing her thoughts. She didn’t envy Melia her mother-in-law.
    “Me? I’m just an Oregon mongrel.”
    Grace tsked. “Claire’s family has a long history with the sea,” she said. “They run a fleet of fishing boats out of Astoria, Oregon.”
    Claire nearly snorted her drink. A fleet of fishing boats? Her dad and uncles owned a trio of boats as old as the men who ran them. They eked a living from the sea off Astoria, banking a little in the good years and tightening their belts in the lean. Claire’s mother had worked since Claire started kindergarten.
    She peered past the fruit spear in her drink, and Grace winked solemnly. Grace Moran might appear to be a dreamy romantic, but she had a feisty streak when it came to “her girls”.
    “Claire is a computer whiz,” Melia added. “She understands all those things that drive the rest of us crazy. She designed my cooking